In advertising, sometimes you and your team come up with great ideas that for one reason or another never see the light of day. But you don’t give up on them. You nurture them, you bring them back to the client, you tweak them, you hope and wish and pray, and you present them (and re-present them), and maybe you even offer them up to a different client. Because you know it’s such a good idea it has to get made.

And sometimes you even go so far as to produce them. And then sit on them. and sit. and sit. and sit.

But every once in a while, after laying dormant for months (or years!), they rise like a fresh corpse in The Walking Dead. And unlike that walker, they’re beautiful.

This is one of those ideas. So simple. So well produced.

and now it has a home. Enjoy.

And stop #distracteddriving before you kill me or somebody else. Seriously. I know you think that whatever you’re doing on your phone is important, but it isn’t. If you were really that important, you’d have someone driving you. It can wait.

“Then there are the planners. Who, on the outside tend to appear super calm, super open and generous all the time. No matter how you feel inside, you are the one who cannot lose your temper, have to earn your place in any meeting, have to look like you know what you are talking about even when you haven’t a clue and, know as much about everything as you can – be a super generalist, make the dullest subject matter seem interesting and, perhaps hardest of all, have to make the few gaps in others drawing breath count, as these are the only seconds you’ll get to say something.”

That’s probably the best description of planners and planning I’ve ever read.

“There’s been plenty of discussion about giving the LGBT community the right to marry, but no one has really talked with them about what it’s like to be married. One of the biggest reveals was that, despite all the buzz about marriage”—and especially in light of continued discrimination and hostility in some quarters—”the journey for LGBT equality isn’t over.”

This is the first element in that campaign (directed by skateboarding legend and acclaimed director Stacy Peralta):

And by planners I mean, of course, account planners, brand planners, strategic planners, brand strategists, creative strategists, marketing strategists, digital and/or social strategists, and probably a bunch of other titles I can’t even think of right now.

If one or more of those titles sound like what you call the thing you do for money, then you should probably take Heather Lefevre‘s 2015 planning survey.

Thanks! The planning survey is an invaluable tool for us all to know what people are thinking, doing, and getting paid around the world and in different sized agencies. It’s a labor of love from Heather and her friends and she asks so little in return.

So thank you Heather, for creating and running the survey, and thank you fellow planners for adding the data.

Heather LeFevre set out on an expedition to apprentice herself with today’s most brilliant marketing strategists, traveling from Beijing to Seattle. The twist? She lived with each of these mentors, in their homes, commuting to work with them each day, and uncovering their principles for building many of the world’s most respected and profitable brands. Brain Surfing is a book that combines marketing know-how with life philosophy. One minute you’ll learn about smart brands on the other side of the world, the next you’ll be inspired to take off on your own adventure. LeFevre guides you through today’s complex marketing landscape, uncovering the secret ways of working of each of her coaches. Brain Surfing will surprise you with how much you learn while thoroughly enjoying the journey.

I think that all the readers who come here to check out the “how to get into planning” posts I’ve written would collectively shout “No!”

However, while reading through the reminiscing about David Carr, I came across this quote about why he felt journalismshould be hard to get into. And as someone who studied journalism as well as advertising, and tried my hand in the publishing/journalism world, it felt very apt. Read more of this post